the visit to New York

[slycreations]

My trip to New York was many things --all crammed into too little space and too little time.  This was my first visit to Manhattan, so I wasn't sure what to expect.  Fortunately I had a good guide --  musicbyoscar grew up in New York and fortunately he knew his way around.  We flew up Thursday evening and arrived very late.  It was straight to the hotel for sleep.  I cashed in some of my Marriott points and put us up at the Marriott Marquis in the heart of the theatre district. It's a lovely hotel in a perfect location.  Thank goodness I had enough points to cover our hotel stay -- since our food and entertainment were both pricey.

Friday (to hell and back):

• we took the subway to the Bronx and spent several excruciatingly boring and awkward hours at my Mother-in-Law's.  So, now I've finally met her and she's finally met me.  It was a chore, and now it's done.  As soon as we were back in Manhattan, we tried to forget the afternoon by downing several rounds of local brew at  the Heartland Brewery and Chophouse.
• We then headed to our hotel, dressed up and went out for a late dinner.  We enjoyed a delicious meal at the Chimichurri Grill - for an appetizer we split an order of the handmade raviolis (a 3-mushroom blend with bechamel and truffle oil) and then I had a thinly pounded filet mignon marinated in green chimichurri sauce served with baby field greens while Oscar had a black angus hanger steak served with chimichurri sauces and charred cauliflower.  Both meals were superbly prepared, and the steaks were soooooo tender and flavorful.

Saturday (so much to do, so little time):

• Spent part of the morning in line to buy tickets -- we decided that we had time for 2 shows, so we each picked one that we wanted to see  (you'll probably be able to guess who wanted which show).
• Then we ventured out for some sight-seeing.  It was bitter cold and windy -- with a wind chill around 16.  So, we decided to visit the top of the Empire State building. The view was awesome, but the wait to reach the top was around 90 minutes and we could only bare the cold for a little while.  Oscar was dissappointed in the over-commercialization of it.  They must have taken pointers from Disney on how to charge too much, cue long lines so that it appears like you're 'amost there!', and force everyone to walk through the gift-shop in order to exit so you can sell more souvenirs and trinkets.  
• Grabbed a quick snack at the hotel's sushi bar, and headed out for the matinee showing of Avenue Q (we wound up with 4th row tickets).  The show was fabulously funny and crass and rude and all the things that my mother would have hated.  (After all, she didn't even like the Muppets, and kept hoping I'd outgrow my fondness for them).  Avenue Q is nothing like a typical Broadway musical, but I loved every minute of it.
• Later that day, we wound up at  The House of Brews where we sampled several tasty beers (including the Sam Adams Chocolate Bock which I already posted about) and we had another delicious meal at a nearby tapas restaurant Meson Sevilla (and we can strongly recommend the grilled portabellas with balsamic, the (decadent!) fried bechamel stuffed mussels, the clams oreganato, and the chorizo in red wine).  They have at least 40 more things on the menu that I'd love to try some day!
• Stopped in a wine store, hoping to find a bottle or two of Pindar that Oscar can haul back in his luggage, but no luck.  The nearby wine store has a good selection, but very little from New York wineries.
• Had a relaxing round or two at the Riposo 46 Wine Bar, where we watched some lovely looking food come out of the smallest kitchen I've ever seen.  We were too full to try anything more than drinks though. 
• We then finished off the evening with some late-night karaoke.  Can't recall where -- somehow Oscar manages to find a karaoke bar in almost every town we visit.  It's a gift, I tell ya.

Sunday (sight seeing and celeb sightings):

• We did some more sight-seeing, including walking up to Rockefeller Center, where I saw the skating rink and the tree (partially hidden by scaffolding while it was being lit) -- the rink was much smaller than I expected, and the tree was just as big as it looks on television.
• We toured the NBC studio -- which was cool.  Surprised at how small Conan O'Brien's set was.   They manage to make that stage look so much larger on television.  Also saw one of the NBC news anchors.  At the end of the tour they made a short video where Oscar got to play news anchor while a young boy got to play weatherman.
• We choked down some hot dogs from a street vendor in order to get back in time for Wicked.  I really didn't know what to expect from Wicked since I was unfamiliar with the story.  The theatre was huge compared to the one where Avenue Q was playing.  We were on the 14th row -- and I didn't realize how good our seats were until we were inside.  The show was fabulous.  The songs weren't exactly the kind you'll walk around humming for the next week, but the singers (and just about everything else that made up the show) were phenomenal. 
• Had a relaxing dinner at Da Marino -- and even had a celebrity sighting.  The decor was lovely, and the piano player was pleasant.  The food was good -- but not quite as fabulous as the previous two dinners.  I had a foil-baked salmon steak topped with tomato, garlic and mint and I think Oscar had chicken marsala.  Sitting at the table diagonal from ours was Chris Noth (Mr. Big to you Sex in the City fans, or Detective Mike Logan to us Law & Order fans).  At one point Oscar tells me to stop staring at Noth, and I replied that it was okay because Noth's back was to me, and that I couldn't help but notice Chris Noth has no ass.  (Seriously, his cords were just sagging in the butt area like a diaper.)  Oscar finds this very amusing, and really wanted me to title this LJ entry "Chris Noth has no ass" just to see how many Mr. Big fans might respond.  As usual, I do things my own way.

Monday - airports and home.  So good to be home.